And then there were stars...........

Do you ever recall the days when as a kid you'd hate to get up for school, hate the exams, hate evrything in this world which came in your way of having fun?? When you were noted all around for being a brat?? Sample this now, what if you were the parent? How would you react? Will you look into the matter or simply subject your kid to the pressures of the rat race.

Much has been said about how in today's competitive world children are suffering, but very little has been done. Take a look around. The next door kid rushes off to tennis practice at 6:00 am, school from 8:30, tutorial classes from 4:30 and finally home at 9:00 pm. The trial doesn't stop here.... there are assignments to be done, projects to be made, exams to be prepared for (you need top marks!!) weeks in advance if not months. In the process, I personally a kid loses out the very essence of childhood fun. Having been part of this rat race for years now, goen through more or less a similar regime, I can safely vouch for its side effects.... I dunno in the process the basic skills, or may be the one which are really special in the kid might be getting lost. Not many are bold enough to withstand expectations and other pressures and still make a life out of what they love and can do best!! And what's more... sometimes the parents are so ignorant of the problems that can plague their children that they fail to look into some genuine problems that the kid might be suffering from attributing the dismal performance on soemthing else.

Aamir Khan in his directorial debut upholds this very problem.... He artfully weaves it around a typical aspiring middle-class family of today. Ishaan, was never good at school. He couldn't understand a word... he was pathetic at his lessons... couldn't clear papers... yet he was imaginative... an artist!! But then, ebing an artist doesn't count does it?? So, given his dismal performance at school he was sent away to boarding school in the hope that he'd be discipline d into performing. It was there, while shrinking into the world of a recluse, that he was meets Nikumbh and then the world slowly turns around.... and Ishaan turns out slowly to be a brilliant boy....

The entire journey leaves you smiling, fuming and at times tearful... for when rational and ata distance from the situation we all do understand the right and wrong of the situation. Along the way we come across papa NandKishore, mum Maya, big bro Yohann and friend Rajan, all lending that essential flavour to the plot making it a story that you'll remember, understand and indentify with at one go.

Darsheel Safary as Ishaan makes a mark that cannot be ignored. Splendid is the word for him. Tisca Chopra (Maya), Vipin Sharma (Nandkishore), Sachet Engineer (Yohann) and Tanay Chheda (Rajan) provide a strong support becoming key elements in the movie and assuming their own importance. And finally, Aamir Khan plays the part of Nikumbh sir, who with his intense charater portrayal sets out to set things right for Ishaan. Another wonderful performance from this perfectionist!!

Taare zameen par... questions everything about the education system. And quite rightfully so... After all, if I imagine starts to be on the ground why is it wrong??? That's my imagination and that is how I like to sketch it.... what's wrong with it???

Or is the title pointing it out to you, that if not handled carefully, we'd lose our kids to soemthing unknown.. and the result would be similar to one fine day waking up to a ground full off stars for they've fallen!!!

Kids are like stars in the sky... please guide them but let them be kids!!!

Pink Flloyd said it right years ago in the song Another brick in the Wall!!

In the end I ask you youngsters who are gonna be parents in the future, have you understood exactly where parenting, depsite the best intentions, is going wrong???